Animal Attraction
by tifaa
Summary: ONE SHOT Relena - Elena, the new addition to the Turks realizes that she is prey to the irresistible charm of a certain red head ...


From the first moment she saw him, Elena knew that she was sunk.

... The sloping slant of his piercing eyes as they swept up and down her petite frame wrapped in Turk regalia, the playful lean in his smirk, the lazy, laid back in which he stood against the wall, the firm brush of his palm gripping her shoulders tightly as he drawled breathily; "Nice to finally meet the new addition to the Turks..." Before he strode from Tseng's office, whistling, the present and ever silent Rude arching a brow in her direction before walking out.

Which left her and Tseng.

She stood, back straight, eyes alert, still in full salute.

His gaze never left from the flat screened PC on his desk. "You know what your duties are today, Elena. After going with Reno to pick up the supplies, you two are to return here, to the ShinRa building. He is to be your escort to some debriefing Scarlet and Heidegger are having in the Conference Room today." Tseng rolled his eyes, an action not missed by the all to eager Elena.

"Supplies, sir?" She questioned.

Tseng nodded. "Reno, as you know, sustained injury during the fall of the Upper Plate about a week ago. He's in need of more supplies."

"Upper Plate, sir?" Elena repeated, not unlike a parrot.

Tseng huffed, raising a brow. "Did you not read the report I gave you?"

Elena flushed, tugging at the collar of her suit, the temperature in the room suddenly seeming ten degrees hotter. "Yes S-"

He didn't let her finish. "It was in the report. Cloud and his other two party members engaged in a fight, in which Reno was injured."

She nodded, lapsing into silence, not really sure what to say.

After a moment, Tseng finally turned to her. "Well? You know your tasks. Get to them."

"Yes sir!" Elena saluted again, although her motions faltered slightly at the slight clearing of a throat behind her.

She turned.

"Plan on coming anytime soon, Elena?" Reno mocked, and her eyes narrowed, even as her attraction for him simmered, somewhat dampening her prompt and fast blooming crush on Tseng.

"Whatever." She growled and pushed past him and out the door.

Tseng met Reno's eyes before he smirked. "Have fun."

Reno threw him the finger and left, the sound as he slammed the door punctuated by Tseng's laughter.

* * *

"Yo! 'Lena? ... Will you bandage this?" Reno asked, when they were back in his suite at the ShinRa Building.

Elena was currently standing in Reno's small but adequate kitchen, drinking the coffee she'd prepared, gulping it down, piping hot from a chipped blue mug with the ShinRa logo on it.

"What?" She called back, her burnt amber eyes curbing hotly towards the master bedroom where'd he shuffled in earlier.

"Come here Elena!" Reno replied in his curt tone.

Not used to taking orders from the capricious red head, she slammed the cup down on the counter, sloshing hot coffee over her nimble fingers. Muttering curses under her breath about the depravity of being stuck with him for the rest of the day, her heeled shoes clicking across the tiled floor of the kitchen before making way to lush carpeting as she headed towards his room.

When she reached the doorway of his room, she stopped short, eyes scanning, taking in the scene before her.

Reno, fiery red hair dangling in his face, was sitting on the bed. His blazer and pristine white dress shirt were slung over an easy chair in the corner. He was struggling with gauze and tape, trying to wrap it around his abdomen and back. Apparently, he couldn't do it on his own. Elena sighed, sense of duty and her unwavering loyalty to her job commandeering the rest of her common sense.

"What happened?" She snapped, stiff strides carrying her by his bedside and she reached for the antiseptic Reno had conveniently forgotten to put on his wound.

He leveled her with a cool gaze as she palmed some cotton balls and poured some of the antiseptic on them. "Tseng didn't tell you?"

Elena sighed and with a measuring glint in her eye, pressed the medicine coated cotton balls to the lower half of the diagonal slice that decorated Reno's lean, tall form. He jumped, hissing and letting out a string of curses at the sting which rippled through him.

"No Reno, Tseng didn't tell me. He only said that you got injured during your battle with Cloud something or other."

Reno scoffed. "Yeah. But Cloud didn't cut me. I got sideswiped by some fucken debris. The rest are bruises..."

"Hmmm." She muttered, non-commitally and finished cleaning the other half of the injury before reaching for the slightly stiff gauze and placed it over the cut, holding it in place with one hand while taping the it down with her free hand. "Bandages, please." Elena mumbled, concentrating.

When he handed them to her, their fingertips slid across each other in a dance of nerves.

Obviously shaken, her eyes slid to meet his in a heated stare before she noticed the intrigued expression on his face.

"What?" Elena barked, and the lower half of Reno's face split into that grin that he had.

"Now is not the time to cop feels, 'Lena, you could at least wait until I've healed if you want some action." He easily teased.

She snorted, looking down, ignoring the heat rising to her cheeks, because she knew that she was blushing, so she simply unraveled the bandages and began wrapping it around Reno's torso. When she was done, she deftly secured it before standing, albeit a little stiffly.

Yawning, Elena gestured with the hand that wasn't covering her mouth. "We done here?" Her voice was sharp, business like.

Reno nodded, and she turned to move from the room.

Relaxed and poised, he grabbed her arm at the wrist, loving the flashes of heat he saw dawn in her eyes as well as the cool, calculating stare she shot at him. "Elena."

"What?" Elena sighed, with a lot less bite then before.

"Thanks for nursin' me." Reno said, deepening his voice, and his fingers brushed across her skin. Her mouth narrowed in a thin, frumpy, line. "Yanno, if I didn't know better, I'd think there was some sort of sexual tension between us, hmmm?" Reno's smile was slow, wide, and unbearably sexy.

And the fact that she was attracted to him while he was being so cocky infuriated her to no end.

Elena's eyes narrowed and she yanked her arm from his grasp, blaming her flustered state on the fact that she hadn't had a male companion in quite a while since joining the Turks.

"... I think not, Reno. Get dressed before we're late to that meeting." With that, she strode out of his bedroom and back to her coffee which was waiting for her in his kitchen.

Reno's gaze followed her until she left, laughing quietly before going over to dress himself in the rest of his Turk uniform.

* * *

The helicopter touched down.

The instant it did, Elena hopped out, the wind from the blades whipping her hair and clothes around in an irregular flapping motion.

The ride with Reno was somewhat pleasant, filled with their banter back and forth but... she had to get to the Conference Room. Right now, meeting with Scarlet and Heidegger looked pretty promising if it meant that it was one step closer to having Reno out of her hair.

His presence left her feeling both annoyed and frustrated her, though, it was oddly attracted her as well. She snorted in disgust because she couldn't even be mad at him without finding another reason to like him more.

Reno, not to be undone, followed her, visibly amused. His long legged strides easily allowed him to catch up to her. "What's wrong 'Lena?"

"Nothing. I just want to get this day over with." Elena sighed, opening the door that led from the roof and started down the stairs.

Reno clutched at his chest. "Be still my heart. You don't love me anymore?"

"Never did." Elena snarled and kept stomping down the stairs.

Reno grabbed her arm and was prepared to say something but then Elena pulled up short, and the words died on his tongue.

"Hello, Rude." She greeted a bit stiffly and he nodded, casting silent, shaded eyes towards Reno.

"Sup Rude." Reno beamed, letting go of Elena's arm abruptly.

The man in question gestured. "..."

Reno rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah yeah, save the lecture. Don't bother... It's Elena's fault we're late anyways."

"Sure, blame me." Elena's tone spat pure venom.

Rude stepped out of the way to let them pass from the stairwell so they could walk down the hall to the elevator.

Reno and Rude fell into step beside one another.

"..." Rude nudged Reno and he laughed.

Then there was silence for a bit.

"Reno?" Elena asked tentatively after a moment as she quickened her steps to keep up with the strides of the two men.

"Yes, darlin?"

She sighed, pressing a finger to the pain brewing behind her left temple. "Rude... didn't say anything. How do you understand him?"

Rude chuckled, shaking his head. "..."

"Years of workin' with him, that's how." Reno said.

Elena frowned. "But... he didn't say anything Reno. I didn't hear anything." She insisted.

"Does it matter, 'Lena?"

"Well, yeah, because how will I understand him if..."

"'Lena?"

"Yeah?"

"Tseng was right. You do talk too much." Reno said and came to a stop at the end of the hallways, pressing the button for the elevator.

The elevator glided smoothly up to meet the trio.

"Sorry Rude..." Elena muttered, throwing a hot, angry look at Reno.

Rude smiled and stepped onto the elevator, glancing at Elena briefly, gaze unreadable behind the glasses. "..."

Elena, not knowing what to say to Rude, simply nodded.

Reno shook his head at the two of them.

Elena looked up, resigning herself to counting the floors as they descended.

70... 69... 68... 67...

* * *

Elena's alarm clock sounded off the next day, promptly at 10:00am. Blinking, sitting straight up in her bed, hair tousled around her face, eyes sleepy and her vision blurry she simply picked up the clock and hurled it across the room, not having the patience or the time to hit the 'snooze' button.

Then she yawned, slowly, a thought nagging at her, until it finally sank in.

Suddenly, she shrieked and hopped up from her bed, dashing to her closet, yanking her Turk uniform off the hanger, racing to the bathroom to get ready. "The morning meeting started at ten, dumb ass!" She snarled at herself as she stripped down and hopped in the shower to begin yet another day at ShinRa Inc.

Tseng continued speaking, simply choosing to ignore Reno's last veiled comment. "And... well, Rude, you and ..."

The door to Tseng's office opened and Elena strode in confidently, forcing herself not to be annoyed by all the pairs of male eyes cast upon her. The rest of the eyes really didn't matter, though. It was one pair of aquamarine that never failed to make her jittery.

Tseng sighed. "Ah. Elena. So nice of you to join us. Only fifteen minutes late."

Elena winced, avoiding the red heads gaze, which never left her. "Sorry sir." She mumbled and took her seat on the other side of Rude.

His gaze showing nothing more then mild irritation, Tseng continued. "... Reno will brief you after the meeting, if you'd like. I was just outlining your mission. Our spies have finally nailed Cloud and the others on a location. They're wandering around the Marshlands, which isn't too far from here. We're sending a team out to intercept. That team will be you, Elena, Rude and myself. We are to leave immediately."

"..." Rude straightened in his chair, adjusting his shades.

Tseng turned to Reno. "And, you'll go forth on that side quest I told you of earlier."

Reno grinned, nodding. "Aye, aye."

He sighed, scoffing slightly at Reno's comment, eyes surveying all of them. "Any questions?"

When silence prevailed, Tseng stood. "Good then, let us go. The helicopters are waiting for our arrival on the roof." A slow, calculating smirk crossed his normally stony features. "... Reno, shortly brief Elena before you two leave. That is all."

With that, him and Rude left the room, closing the door tightly behind him.

Elena stood from her chair, walking the short distance to Tseng's desk before leaning on the cool mahogany wood, leaning on it as she faced Reno, whose face echoed with indifference.

"Well?" Elena said when Reno made no move to speak. "Tseng told you to make this quick."

Reno shrugged, taking yet another golden opportunity to tease the new girl, simply because it was so damn easy to do so.

"... I don't like quick Elena. I'm not for rushed quickies on the bosses desk right before a mission. However, if you want nice and slow, you're free to wander up to my suite..."

Elena usually kept her temper under wraps. Today, was almost the exception. Almost. "Dammit Reno would you just brief me! ... You can flirt with me later." She glared, huffing.

When she looked up, Reno was towering over her, head cocked.

She back stepped and he wrapped an arm around her waist, and - gods damn him - all the while that charming smile was still planted on his face. "Dear Elena, are you giving me an invitation?"

She blinked, curt Turk manners shattering into her speech. "No. I wasn't aware..."

"But ... you just said that you wanted me to flirt with you later, did you not?" Reno murmured, fingers cupping her chin and turning her face up to his.

"I didn't say that I wanted you do anything!" Elena fumed.

Reno nodded seriously and gripped her chin a bit harder when she tried to pull away from his grip.

"Let go!" Elena demanded, tongue tied and red faced.

Reno shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, 'Lena. No can do. Why bother flirting later when I can flirt with you now?"

His long fingers curled in her flaxen bob. Teasingly, he bent his head to lightly kiss her, and eyes wide, her head tipped back to let him.

A throat cleared from the doorway.

Elena tried to jump back, pushing at Reno's arms, which limply dropped at his sides.

She was shocked.

Reno was nonchalant and casual, he just rolled his eyes at the intruder.

"..." Rude arched a brow at the two, silently reminding them that they had to hurry or Tseng would give them all an earful later.

"Fantastic timing, Rude." Reno shot sarcastically.

Rude smirked and left the doorway.

Elena blinked rapidly, her face going through rapid changes of emotions.

Reno turned back to Elena, plastering that grin on his face again as he took her hand.

She barely noticed. Her brain was far from Earth.

Before she could react, he raised her hand, brushing his lips across her knuckles, his pleased smile and the light in his eyes testament to the notch in his male ego received at making her the equivalent of a bumbling female - she was nearly a pile of Estrogen goo on the floor - as he stood back.

"Miss me while I'm gone on my mission, won't you, darling?" He taunted, winking prettily at her before striding out of Tseng's office.

Elena stood for a moment, frozen and prone silent. Then anger, sharp, hot and spiking filled her.

"The hell I will, Reno! You're the one that's going to be missing me!" Elena yelled in response, growing angrier when his laughter followed her statement as he kept walking down the hall. She tore after him, slamming the door to Tseng's office, fire and revenge lighting in her eyes.

... let the games begin.


End file.
